Broken Worlds
by Treymane
Summary: Reven and the Exile have left the galaxy to seek the rim while the remnants of the Sith Fleet are preparing for another onslaught. The fate of the Republic lies with a crippled fleet and a handful of companions who can hardly stand eachother.
1. Leave Taking

**Broken Worlds is a post Kotor II story focusing on events that take place after the Exile (LSM) and Revan (DSF) have departed for the outer rim.

* * *

**

_Leave Taking_

The subdued pulse of the nearby engines accompanied by the listless hum of dull lights, lights that seemed to soak up light rather than give it, were the only sounds in the Ebon Hawk's starboard dormitories. Visas suspected that the others were already asleep, leaving the Ebon Hawk in unusual silence.

Visas was glad for her retreat. It seemed that the more isolated one could be on the Ebon Hawk, the better. It was certainly preferable to listening to fools clash over inconsequential matters, or enduring the handmaiden's baleful gaze. Then there was the HK droid who was constantly hoping someone would finally get angry enough at somebody else to start a fight and give him reason to 'initiate assassination protocols'. In spite of its homicidal inclinations, that droid was perhaps the most consistent member of the crew.

But, as he was in most things, Evrain was an exception. He reclined on a bunk not far from where Visas sat on the floor. His gray eyes were fixed on the far wall, but he seemed to be looking through that wall rather than at it. Evrain had been unusually remote ever since the last trip to Telos, and after Nihilus' defeat, he had only worsened. Since Malachor, he had barely spoken a word. But Visas could hardly blame him for that, she had barely spoken either.

Visas remembered vividly his weary aspect when he entered the Ebon Hawk as Malachor began to fall apart–a death the planet was long overdue. His only words had been 'get us out of here'. Then he entered a meditative trance that lasted for several hours. When he was through, he seemed no more at peace than when he began. Evrain would say nothing of what happened at Malachor, other than that Kreia was dead by his hand.

But, by the intense melancholy aura that permeated Evrain, Visas knew he had killed many more people than just Kreia. He always wore that aura of stoicism and melancholy after he killed. The first time he had killed in front of Mira, the girl had called Evrain a cold hearted bastard, before she saw the depths in his eyes and could feel the almost palpable weight that bore down on him.

Evrain wore that stoic countenance now, every feature unreadable save for his gray eyes and a few other expressions that only the Mirakula was sensate to.

"I wish I had more time," Evrain said regretfully, breaking a silence that had lasted nearly fifteen minutes.

Visas faced Evrain, "What do you mean? Malachor is dealt with. The threat from Sion, Nihilus and Kreia is ended, is it not?" Tension and weariness rolled off of Evrain in waves.

"The threat is never over," Evrain responded, "You should know that just as well as I." Visas was silent. "The Sith is far more than just ships and the men who controlled them. Those may have been the least dangerous aspects of the Sith. Wars and empires come and go but belief is a much harder thing to destroy. The real battle lies at the edge of the galaxy. And . . . _she_ is out there."

"She, you mean Revan?"

Evrain nodded, "I don't know what to expect if I find her. None of the rumors I've heard agree with each other as to what she did after her return."

"Did you love her?" Visas asked.

Evrain was silent for a moment, "I respected her and admired her. I think that all of us did. But I abandoned her. I couldn't have changed her course though. The dark side would have corrupted me as surely as it has countless others." A chill ran through Visas as she felt the scars left by Nihilus.

"Instead I left Revan to her own fate. I saw the threshold and could not pass. I'm doubtless the others thought me weak," Evrain laughed bitterly, "Ironic that it was fear that led me away from the dark side."

"So you're going to the edge of the galaxy. To confront your former leader and the true nature of the Sith. That is what this is about, no?"

Evrain chuckled slightly, the mood failed to reach his eyes, "So I am. I doubt I'll set foot in Republic-controlled space for quite some time, if ever."

"When do we–"

Evrain cut Visas off, "You're not coming with me. Neither are any of the others."

"Why?" Visas protested, "If this conflict as important as you say it is then you will need all the help you can get."

"No," Evrain said simply, "you aren't ready. Not yet anyhow. When the time comes, you will know what to do. I just . . . wish I had more time."

"Time for what?"

"Time to teach. As things are I've managed to set you on the right path and begun to train Briana but there is potential in the others as well. But they are afraid to see it in themselves, and that has hampered my ability to train them. Atton's trust in me has been slipping ever since we first met. Bao-Dur is afraid to learn of the Force when so much destruction has been caused through its misuse. Mira believes I just want to use her," Evrain sighed, "If I had gotten to Mira sooner, I might have been able to teach her. I don't know about the others though. There's never enough time."

Evrain stood slowly, his shoulders slumped, and began to pace, "Atton said he was going to bring us to Agamar."

"That's where we part ways?" Visas asked, a barely discernable hint of tremulousness in her voice.

"It will be," Evrain said, nodding slowly, "Agamar is an outer rim world, it is as good a starting point for my journey as anywhere."

"Are you going to tell the others?"

"No. I'm only telling you because we have an understanding. The others would not be dissuaded from following."

"Such as the handmaiden?"

"Her name is Briana," Evrain said, "and yes, her especially. I can trust you though, can't I?" Visas nodded impassively. "What will you do when I leave?"

"I will go to Katarr," Visas replied cooly, "I have my own journey to complete. The paths of the others, however, seem much less clear."

"You know that we've gained a small fortune during our travels. I'm going to give the bulk of my share to you. I want you to divide it equally between yourself and the others."

"I have little need for credits," Visas replied.

"I'm sure the others will be happy to hear that," Evrain replied with a chuckle, "but take the credits anyway. You may need them."

There was another silence that lasted for a long moment.

"What about the droids?" Visas asked at length.

"The droids, I nearly forgot about them," Evrain paced for a few moments before speaking again, "HK-47 and GO-TO can find their own ways. T3 on the other hand, I think it makes the most sense to send him with Bao-Dur. I certainly don't want to leave him with Atton or Mandalore."

"That is sensible," Visas said, "but I'm not so certain about letting the HK droid go free. He will certainly cause death and mayhem if provided the slightest opportunity."

"The same could be said of Mandalore."

Visas had no response for that.

"HK-47 might actually be safer if he does not have a master. His masters tend to meet unfortunate ends."

"Then let us hope that no one attempts to detain the HK droid."

"For their sake and the sake of all those around them," Evrain added.

Evrain knelt down in front of Visas, "Before I leave, Visas, I want you to know that I'm more proud of your redemption than I am anything else I've accomplished. Your progress has been remarkable. That you've been corrupted by the dark side and brought back to the light means there is hope for all consumed by the Dark Side."

"But I can still feel its taint," Visas protested, her lips twisting with disgust.

"I feel the call of the Dark Side as well. Briana herself confessed to me that she herself felt the pull of the Dark Side when I sent her to the Sith Temple on Dxun. She felt the pull on Korriban as well."

"The handmaiden? I did not realize . . ."

"She is as susceptible as anyone, despite her sanctimonious facade. But she is learning to abandon even that mask."

Evrain leaned forward and embraced Visas, who seemed surprised by the gesture. "The Force willing we'll meet again. In this galaxy, on the rim, or elsewhere. But be ready for Briana's reaction, she won't understand."

* * *

It was late morning in Calna Muun Starport by the time the Ebon Hawk landed. Evrain encouraged the crew to relax . They would decide what to do next that evening. Atton was the first off the ship _probably looking for the nearest Catina,_ Visas thought disgustedly. Evrain and Mira followed soon thereafter. The others stayed in their self-assigned niches with little or no discussion. Everyone who stayed aboard the Ebon Hawk seemed annoyed at Evrain for putting off the time when the decisions would be made. 

Mira was the first to return, in the early afternoon. Atton arrived later in the evening. As Visas expected, Evrain did not return. As the night drew on, Visas heard loud voices coming from the direction of the common room and knew it was time to let the others know what had transpired.

"I doubt he's run into anything he can't handle. The people on this planet are more docile than cattle," the harsh, grating voice belonged unmistakably to Mandalore.

"And what would you say happened on Nar Shaddaa?" the protest came from the handmaiden.

"This dump probably doesn't even have a Czerka or Exchange outpost, let alone any crime syndicates of its own," Atton said.

"I don't think we're dealing with a crime at all," said Mira, as she watched Visas' entrance, "you know something." All eyes (or ocular sensors) immediately turned to the Mirakula.

"Evrain left," Visas said, stepping forward.

"Figures," Mira said at the same moment Atton was muttering curses, "that what he was talking about with you so late last night?"

"It was," said Visas.

"This had better not be some sick game of your design, Visas," the handmaiden said, her voice iron.

"Calm down Briana," Bao-Dur said, "let's hear her out before jumping to any conclusions." Briana reined in her temper but continued to glare at Visas. "Please, continue Visas."

"Evrain talked to me last night and told me that there was another threat to the balance of the force, a threat lying at the edge of the galaxy. He believed we were not ready to face this threat, so he went alone."

"Ridiculous," Atton said.

"Regretful Statement: How I wish I could have joined my master in annihilating a new enemy," HK-47 mournfully declared.

"So Evrain's battles aren't over yet? Fitting, a warrior like him deserves more challenges," Mandalore said.

"Somehow," Mira began, "I doubt Evrain sees it the same way."

"I know," Mandalore continued, "isn't that unfortunate?" Mira pursed her lips.

The handmaiden was silent, preferring instead to glower at Visas. T3 made a series of worried sounding noises but GO-TO made no noise as it hovered in the corner.

Bao-Dur was the only one to nod as if he were expecting such a turn, "Did he leave any parting words?"

"He left no words but I could tell that he regretted leaving. He felt that he could have taught all of you to use the Force if he had had the time."

"Touching," Mandalore said sarcastically. Briana turned about and retreated back to the cargo hold.

"I think this will be harder on the handmaiden than it'll be for any of us," Mira commented.

"Who cares about that schutta?" Atton said.

"Atton, you're a lot easier to deal with when you don't talk."

"Rhetorical Question: Why do meatbags feel the need to persist in unending dialogues that only serve to exacerbate conflict when the obvious solution is violence?"

"And I cannot deal with that droid much longer!" Mira exclaimed as she walked away.

"I think it is time I left the company of this crew as well, there is obviously nothing further to be gained here," said GO-TO, the first time he had said anything since Malachor.

"Relieved Valediction: Farewell fat one," said HK-47 as GO-TO floated down the landing ramp.

Atton looked around at those who remained before speaking, "I'm going to guess no one is too interested in staying on this planet? No objections? Okay, I'll take us to Kothlis then, it's a mid-rim world where we can get to pretty much anywhere."

"That should give our nerves some time to cool," Bao-Dur said. Though he sounded as impassive as always, Visas could see that the Iridonian was troubled.

"Before you leave," Visas started, "Evrain asked that I distribute his share of the credits we have gathered." Visas produced a number of credit chits from the folds of her robes and distributed them equally, "I will give the others their credits as well," Visas said when she was finished.

"You might want to wait a little while before you give the Handmaiden her share," Mandalore warned, "As she is now, she's more likely to dash them apart than accept them."

* * *

"Commander Verner, Status report," Captain Dren Thayer ordered as he stepped onto the bridge of his battlecruiser. 

Verner looked at Thayer with a grim expression, "Planet Kamal has sustained heavy bombardment. There are no enemy vessels registering on the sensors but we are detecting debris from several vessels. Six of the vessels are Republic ships and two appear to be Sith battlecruisers. There's too much scattered debris to determine how many civilian craft were destroyed."

"How did this happen? If the Sith can strike at a core world they can strike anywhere," Captain Thayer looked stricken as stared out the viewport to see the broken hulls of Republic vessels and the burning world of Kamal, "Bring us into orbit around Kamal and dispatch relief teams. Send out search teams to look for survivors among the debris. And get three squadrons of fighters out there to patrol the sector. I need to contact the admiral."

Captain Thayer spun about to leave while a flurry of activity began on the bridge as his orders were set into action.


	2. Weathering

_Weathering_

Mandalore had been right, the handmaiden did attempt to dash apart the credit chits when Visas gave them to her before vehemently demanding that Visas leave. Mira simply gave a curt 'thank you', which suited Visas well enough. The Mirakula looked forward to leaving the company of the Ebon Hawk and beginning her pilgrimage. The crew had become increasingly dysfunctional since Evrain's departure. Fortunately, most of them had isolated themselves which lowered the potential for clashes.

The crew of the Ebon Hawk did not meet again until after the landing at Kothlis. There were, of course, unresolved issues.

"So, where is everyone going?" Atton asked.

"I have unfinished work on Telos," Bao-Dur said.

"As do I," Briana added.

"Dxun," Mandalore said simply.

"I have my own journey to make," Visas said, "I will not need transport about this ship however."

"That's an interesting point," Mandalore commented, "who is going to keep this ship?"

"Me," Atton said, as if it were a matter of course.

"How did you figure that?" Mira asked sarcastically, hands on her hips, staring levelly at Atton.

"Well . . ." Atton trailed off.

Mandalore interrupted, "If you're going to be taking the ship, I suggest you relinquish your share of Evrain's credits."

"What?"

"That sounds reasonable," said Bao-Dur, "I'm sure he'd just gamble the money away playing Pazaak anyhow." T3 whirred agreeably.

"You keep your mouth shut!" Atton demanded of the droid, "or . . . whatever you call that thing."

"So," Mandalore said impatiently, "are you going to answer the question or just sputter nonsense?"

Atton clenched his teeth, but pulled out his credit chits and tossed them onto the table.

Mandalore moved toward the table and swiped his share. Atton watched mournfully while the others repeated the action.

"What's the problem?" Mandalore asked Visas when she declined to take her share.

"I've enough credits."

"Suit yourself," said Mandalore, and made to take Visas' share.

"I don't think so," said Mira, grabbing the chits before Mandalore could get to them, "Bao-Dur needs these more than any of us." Mira tossed the chits to Bao-Dur, who barely caught them.

"Thank you, Mira," said Bao-Dur, "these should help me get better equipment for my restoration efforts."

Mira smiled, "Don't mention it."

"Cute," Mandalore said bemusedly, "I'll let it slide though. Now what about the droids," Mandalore turned to HK-47, "I'm sure I could find a use for a droid of your capabilities."

"Exasperated Statement: It seems that I am meant to be passed among various meatbags for the entirety of my existence."

"Evrain had considered that," Visas said, "it was his decision that T3, if willing, would go with Bao-Dur," the astromech droid beeped his ascent and the others seemed to accept the decision, "He also decided that HK-47 would go freely."

Surprised exclamations echoed from all of those assembled but HK-47's voice came out on top, "Ecstatic Declaration: Truly? Freedom? That explains why Evrain decided to give me a portion of his credits. Self-Directed Query: What will I do with such a thing?"

"Are you sure this is what Evrain wanted?" Mira asked Visas concernedly.

"He was quite clear on the matter," said Visas, "I must admit I have my reservations regarding the HK droid as well."

"Observation: A typical meatbag reaction. I am fortunate to have had an atypical meatbag as a master. Eager Statement: I believe I will enjoy my freedom very much." The final words were spoken slowly and deliberately.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Briana said.

"Statement: There are still inferior copies of me, seeking to defile my good name, they must all be dealt with . . . slowly."

"So," Atton began, trying to change the subject, "who's going to need a ride to wherever they're going?"

* * *

Lieutenant Commander Farris was the officer on duty of the Republic cruiser _Preserver_. The _Preserver_ was one of three capital ships in the task force led by Commodore Bolton. Farris was tired, but he preferred it that way. During uneventful shifts, especially when traveling through hyperspace, things went by faster if you were half-asleep. The bridge only held two others at the moment, one helmsman, who hadn't had to touch his console the entire shift, and an operations officer who would lazily press a few keys every so often, probably to keep from falling asleep.

Farris used times like this to look over reports and galactic news. What he read worried him, supposedly a Sith fleet had decimated a core world and annihilated all Republic resistance while sustaining the loss of only two ships. The battle was long over before the first Republic ship had managed to respond.

Public confidence in the Republic Navy was lower than ever before. The Navy's confidence in itself was low as well. There were simply too many worlds in the republic and not nearly enough ships. The hundreds of capital ships that had existed at the beginning of the Mandalorian wars had been worn down to dozens, due to two wars and constant conflict. And now, the Sith were beginning another push. Perhaps their most ambitious push yet.

There was a sudden jolt as the _Preserver_ shook. Farris dropped his datapad and rose from his chair to look out of the viewport. They were in normal space.

"Helmsman, report," Farris said.

"We've been pulled out of hyperspace," the helmsman replied.

"Sir," the operations officer interjected, "the entire task force has been pulled out of hyperspace. I'm detecting nearly a dozen warships, Sith configuration."

"Blasted interdiction beams; sound battle stations!" Farris ordered and ran to the tactical console, where he frantically started the sequence to initiate the shield generators. Then the battle stations alarm came on, a steady, pulsating, unbelievably loud noise that would ring in one's ears hours after it went off.

Farris diverted power to the automatic guns and marked a firing solution for the nearest Sith battle cruiser. _This had to happen when we had a skeleton crew on duty._ Energy discharges shook the Republic cruiser as the turbolaser batteries began to fire.

The commodore's voice came on over the comm system, "This is Commodore Bolton. All ships raise shields and engage the enemy. We are attempting to locate the source of interdiction. Once we ascertain the source we will relay the firing solution."

"Tell me something I don't know," Ferris muttered, glad that the commodore couldn't hear him. But something else bothered him more. The tactical readout on the shields stated that they had only reached 16 power."

The bridge doors opened and a handful of officers entered the bridge. Ferris gave up the tactical console to the officer who normally ran it but was disturbed when he didn't see the captain. "Get those shields to full power," Ferris ordered.

The lieutenant commander moved back to the front of the bridge, where he saw the nearest Sith battle cruiser launch a fusillade of turbolaser fire. Ferris looked back at the tactical console. 21 efficiency.

"Helmsman, take evasive action; get us away from that laser fire!"

The turbo laser bolts were faster than the _Preserver's_ maneuvering thrusters and all but a few of the bolts hit their marks. Volleys of laser fire impacted the shields and shook the _Preserver_. Ferris watched in horror as the shields inevitably collapsed under the constant fire.

Lances of energy tore through the unshielded vessel and inevitably struck the torpedo magazine, which split the ship in half with a violent explosion of warheads. The engines exploded next, shattering the aft section of the cruiser and damaging nearby ships with scattered debris.

Most of the other ships were light cruisers and frigates, barely a handful survived the first volley from the Sith battle cruisers. The ships that did survive attempted to sortie fighters in an effort to combat the Sith but nearly all of those fighters were caught within the hail of turbolaser fire. The commander of one frigate panicked and dropped his vessel's shields in order to give more power to the hyper drive in the hopes that a blind jump would get him somewhere. He was sorely disappointed to find that the interdiction field was still in operation as his unshielded vessel was torn apart by turbolasers.

Within less than three minutes the only Republic vessel remaining was the cruiser _Brentaal_, Commodore Bolton's flagship. With shields at less than ten percent and a nothing to lose, Commodore Bolton ordered the helmsman to ram the nearest Sith Battle cruiser.

Knowing what Commodore Bolton was doing, the Sith fleet threw its entire arsenal at the Republic cruiser. The result was that the _Brentaal_ was covered in turbolaser scoring and gaping fissures in its hull as it crashed into the Sith battle cruiser, gutting the vessel as it tore through.


	3. Stabbing at Shadows

_Stabbing at Shadows_

Admiral Onasi sat up straight in his high backed chair, waiting patiently while the others present at the conference table finished reading the most recent reports. _This is not a meeting I've been looking forward to_, Carth thought as he looked at the somber expressions on each person at the table. It was a rather closed meeting, consisting only of Akin Risley, head scientist of what was unofficially called the Coruscant Cabal, Chancellor of the Senate Jedrek Baird and a man Carth didn't know who had businessman written all over him.

Carth looked out the window to see Coruscant's sun boiling into horizon while its last rays retreated, bathing the towers of Coruscant in red and orange while turning the atmospheric vessels that raced along Coruscant's skyways into flying embers. When Carth looked back at the conference table the others looked ready to talk. The face of Chancellor Baird was the most grave.

"This is very bad news you've brought us, Admiral Onasi. Now tell me, why couldn't the Navy do its job? It will seem to the people of the Republic that the navy can no more to protect us than it can protect itself."

"It's really simple," Carth said, leaning forward, "as it is, our navy is undermanned and underpowered. Sith battle cruisers are better shielded, better armored, and able to put out as much firepower as three of our cruisers. We have less than thirty capital ships left in the entire navy with which to defend hundreds of worlds. Furthermore, our ships were intended for policing and handling piracy. Necessity alone has turned them into warships."

Carth began to feel like he was rushing his speech too much and took a breath to steady himself, "Most of our ships are running with skeleton crews and many of our commanders are inexperienced." Saying the last part stung the most. Like most of the current commanders, Carth was an admiral by sad necessity. The assassination of Admiral Duman three months ago had been one of the harshest blows to the Navy. Carth continued, "The Navy needs more trained personnel and more ships. Preferably of a new design more suited to combating the Sith battle cruisers. Of course, I understand that the destruction of the Larsfield Ship Yards has made that nearly impossible."

The chancellor nodded and looked at the businessman, "You wanted to make a proposal, Mister Cyrano?"

The man nodded and faced Carth Onasi, "I am a representative from Rothana Heavy Engineering. Engineers from my company are currently working on replacement designs for the ships currently used by the Republic.

"The shipyards are ready. If you accept the contract, we can begin production by next month and have the first squadron of ships ready three months after that. These are the design specifications for the ARC-100 fighter and the Venator Class Destroyer." Cyrano handed Carth a datapad with the plans for the new ships. Carth scrutinized both examples and nodded.

"The Venator looks a lot like the Sith battle cruisers," Carth said, sounding a little unnerved.

"They were partially modeled after them," Cyrano explained, "You said it yourself Admiral, Sith battle cruisers are able to put out more firepower. This is mostly because of the triangular arrangement of their hulls that provides the most guns with the widest range of fire, rather than our cruisers which have the same number of guns as a Sith battle cruiser but fail to achieve as much of an output because of the narrow hull design used. The Venator Destroyer is more tapered than a Sith battle cruiser and will thus have an even better range of fire than the Sith battle cruisers. The Venator will also have better maneuverability and speed."

"You approve of the design, Admiral?" Chancellor Baird asked.

"I do, the Venatur should be able to match the Sith for firepower and the ARC-100 looks better than any fighter the Sith have got," Carth said uneasily, "but I know there's a catch."

Cyrano nodded, "The catch is that each Venator will cost roughly ten billion credits. Each ARC-100 fighter will cost over one hundred million credits."

Carth's mouth dropped open, "What are you trying to pull here? The Republic is nearly bankrupt!"

"He' right," Chancellor Baird said, "there's no way we can raise one hundred twenty billion credits for a squadron of Venators, let alone a fleet of them."

"We are willing to compromise on that issue," Cyrano said, "we understand that the economy is at its lowest ebb and are willing to accept a down payment of only four and a half billion for each ship."

"You'd better find a way to lower that cost," the Chancellor warned, staring coldly at Cyrano, "because I know you want us to have those ships as much as Carth and I want to have those ships."

"Four billion."

"That's still forty-eight billion credits."

"Three billion, I can't go any lower because of production costs."

"You have a deal Mister Cyrano." Cyrano settled back in his chair, looking more than a little displeased. Chancellor Baird turned to the scientist, Akin Risley, "Now, you had something you wanted to say."

"Yes," Akin replied, "my team and I have been working to understand and defeat the ambush techniques used by the Sith. Most of them seem to rely on what we have called interdiction technology. Surviving ships from these encounters are rare so we have little data to draw on. However, we have been able to determine that the Sith are using gravity well generators in order to create null fields in hyperspace, effectively pulling any traveling ships out of hyperspace. We are working on a device that should be able to detect these null fields.

"But we've hit a snag. In order to counteract interdiction technology we need a better understanding and thus require a gravity well generator. But we have been unable to produce one."

"Let me guess," Carth said, "you need us to find a gravity well generator for you."

"Yes admiral, but it will have to be intact. Attempts to extract gravity well generators from the hulks of destroyed Sith Interdictors have proven fruitless."

"Intact? That's not going to be easy. To do that we'd have to board a Sith battle cruiser but before we can even worry about that we need to find out where they are."

"Well," Chancellor Baird said, "It seems we all have a great deal to accomplish. Cyrano, I will address the Senate later this afternoon and will notify you when the proposal is ratified. The credits transaction will take place within the week. Admiral, you will get your ships and I will see to it that more credits are appropriated to the Navy for recruitment and training purposes. Just find a way to protect our systems."

Carth nodded, "Thank you Chancellor." He knew that the chancellor was not acting as much out of concern for the Republic as for his chance of getting reelected.

"Good," the Chancellor said in a tone that clearly declared the end of the conference, as he rose. "Now I have other business to attend to, as I'm sure all of you do."

Chancellor Baird was the first out the door and was immediately flanked by Crimson Guardsmen as he moved down the corridor. Cyrano followed with somewhat less enthusiasm while Akin shuffled his way out.

Carth sighed as he stood and made his way to the door. The halls were empty, as they had been all too often as of late. Carth slowly made his way to the outer ring of the Senatorial Hall, where the shuttle landing pads were.

_I still need to figure out how I'm going to protect all of these worlds from an unseen enemy with a skeleton military force._ _The only way I can have any hope of winning this is to find out where the Sith are coming from._

Carth noticed his reflection in a window he passed and couldn't help but wonder when his hair had begun to gray.


	4. Killing Time

_Killing Time_

The Ebon Hawk was nearly soundless as it moved along the hyperspace channel. Vibrant oscillating shades of blue and white were all that was visible through the cockpit's viewport but hyperspace's brilliance was lost on Atton and Mira. Atton attempted to occupy himself by picking at controls every so often and pretending to look over system statuses. Mira was leaning back in the copilot's seat with her feet resting on the control console, absentmindedly biting at her nails.

"Do you know how to play Pazaak?" Atton asked after what had seemed an interminable silence. Mira simply looked at Atton with an expression that communicated perfectly her complete lack of interest before going back to biting at her nails. "I guess not," Atton murmured.

It was a long time before Atton tried again, "Do you know if this ship has any holovids?"

Mira looked at Atton quizzically, "I think Evrain had a little bit too much on his mind to worry about holovids."

Atton shrugged, "It was worth a try."

There was another, long, uncomfortable silence. This time it was Mira who spoke, "The last people to own this ship might have though."

"Now there's a thought. This is a pretty old ship and it looks like a lot of owners just left stuff behind." Atton stood from his chair and began his search. After scouring every drawer, shelf, nook and cranny he could find, Atton eventually came across a stack of holovids in a locked container in the cargo room. "I found some!" Atton shouted.

"What did you find?" Mira shouted back, and Atton heard her soft footsteps approaching.

Atton looked at each of the holovids, they were all unlabeled, "I'm not sure." Atton responded.

Mira had made it back to the cargo hold by then. "Weird," she commented, "let's plug one of 'em into the holo terminal and see what happens."

"Alright," Atton said, following Mira back to the main hold. Atton looked around the room and noted the lack of any seats. "We need to get a couch and maybe some chairs in here," he commented.

"Just plug the thing in," Mira said.

Atton took the top holovid and inserted it into the terminal. A few seconds later the two were assaulted by slow and repetitive music.

"Is it just audio?" Mira asked.

"It shouldn't be . . . . No, it looks like something's coming on now. I think it's a . . . twi'lek girl and a quarren . . . I think it's a male." A few seconds later, "Yes it's definitely a male."

"That looks . . . is that even possible? I didn't know they could do that with their tentacles."

"Their lekku? You'd be surprised what they can do with them."

"Oh, you would know wouldn't you?" Mira asked as she ejected the holovid from the terminal and didn't bother to catch it, letting the disk clatter to the floor.

"Do you want to try the next one?"

"You're sick," Mira said as she walked back to the cockpit.

Atton sighed and dropped the holovids onto the floor beside the one that had already fallen.

"Let's go to Ralltiir," Mira said as Atton sat down at the pilot's seat.

"What? I thought you wanted to go to Kuat?"

"Hey, it's my prerogative to change my mind. There's supposed to be a lot of heavy construction going on at Kuat and wherever there's heavy construction there's tight security."

"If they've tightened up security at Kuat I like the idea of avoiding it. I tend to get detained at places with really good security."

"I've heard about that," Mira chuckled.

"Well we could just go to Nar Shadda. It's only a day or two longer of a trip and there's practically no security there."

Mira dropped her smile like a mask, "No, let's go to Ralltiir. I'm," Mira hesitated, "I'm not ready to go back to Nar Shadda yet. I feel a little tired, I think I'm going to get some sleep."

Atton watched as Mira stood and shakily left the cockpit, "Hey, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah," Mira replied haltingly, "just tired, that's all."

"Okay," Atton said, not sounding convinced at all, "sleep well."

Mira just nodded.

* * *

_Evrain was always talking about taking me back to Nar Shadda. He said there was something there I had to see, something that would open my eyes to a larger world, whatever that meant. But I had to be too afraid._ _Too afraid even to just let him show me what he wanted me to see. Dammit Evrain, why couldn't you have given me more time?_

But Mira already knew the answer to that, even if she wasn't ready to admit it. Whatever Evrain had gone to face, it wasn't going to wait.

* * *

Jens was a junior grade security guard covering the 'night shift' at the asteroid compound which housed some kind of laboratory, Jens was not entitled to even the most trivial of details. All he knew was that he was supposed to verify the codes of all incoming ships from his station that overlooked the landing bay. 

Jens cursed under his breath when the perimeter alert went off, that stupid obnoxious beeping that made him want to smash the console every time it went off. Jens sat up in his chair and turned the alert off then looked at the sensor report. The ship that had triggered the alert was one of the long range shuttles that frequently did supply runs. Jens engaged the code verifier and was hardly suprised when the shuttle was verified. Jens didn't know what he would do when a ship finally didn't verify, he had forgotten the procedure after his first week.

The shuttle opened a channel as it neared, "Kilo 2 to Cytech Labs, requesting landing permissions for bay one."

"Cytech Labs Kilo 2, permission granted," Jens replied in monotone, knowing this was would probably be the most excitement he'd get all evening. Jens reached for the schedule to mark off Kilo 2. But when Jens looked at the schedule he saw that Kilo 2 wasn't on the list, which was unusual because the lab staff was extremely anal concerning shuttle arrivals and departure times.

Jens began to reach for the intercom panel to contact his superior but it was too far away from his chair to reach and he didn't feel like standing up. _The boss would probably be pretty ticked if I woke him up over something that's probably just a managerial oversight, _Jens thought as the shuttle glided into the hanger bay.

The shuttle contacted Jens' station nearly a minute after it had landed, "Kilo 2 Cytech Labs, I have some heavy gear on this load and am going to need some help offloading it."

"Cytech Labs Kilo 2, I'll come down and give you a hand." _There's probably a regulation against this somewhere in the manual._ Jens stood up and made his way down the short ramp of his tower and crossed to the shuttle. The ramp, placed under the belly of the shuttle, was already down.

"Come on in," a voice called from within the shuttle, "I'm only gonna need help with two crates, the rest I can take care of myself."

"Alright," Jens replied, ascending the ramp.

Then Jens heard something heavy fall behind him. Jens started to turn but only saw a flash of red before something gripped his neck like a vice and threw him to the ground. Coughing, Jens looked up to see a red plated droid staring down at him.

Jens thought he could feel its glowing orange eyes, if they could be called that, boring into him. That was the thing that bothered Jens the most about droids, those unblinking eyes. Almost instinctively, Jens began to crawl his way up the ramp.

"Observation: I would not advise attempting to escape from me. You will find any such attempts to be completely futile. If you cooperate, your chance to survive this encounter will be much greater."

Jens stopped, "What do you want?"

"Statement: I want you to tell me everything you know about this facility and I want your security access codes."

Jens spilled his guts. Unfortunately, there was only so much he knew and he quickly started giving the droid useless information, such as the mess hall's menu and hours.

"Query," HK-47 interrupted, "How can I get inside the laboratories?"

Jens choked, "I don't have the key card. You'll have to find my boss or a scientist for that." Jens winced as the red plated droid pointed an arm at him and some kind of module emerged from the arm. A blue beam shot from the arm and struck Jens in the chest, who began to feel numb before losing consciousness.

* * *

HK-47 retracted the stun module back into his arm before kicking the security guard's body off of the ramp and locking down the shuttle. Using the security guard's access codes, HK-47 was able to obtain an incomplete map of the asteroid facility. There were only two landing bays, the other one housed shuttles intended for station personnel. From his approach, HK-47 had seen that the facility was very small. Whatever was here would not be difficult to find. When HK-47 left the landing bay the corridor was disappointingly empty. 

_Agitated Statement: I had hoped to encounter more resistance. So far, the task of hunting down the generation of imposter droids built in my image has proven far too easy._

Walking down the corridor, HK-47 encountered a door clearly labeled 'Labs'.

_Addendum: Insultingly easy in fact._ The door was locked. HK-47 examined the structure of the door and determined that it could easily be breached with a mine. Knowing a detonation would inevitably draw security guards and other concerned meatbags, HK-47 concealed other mines around the bends of the corridor. Thinking further, HK-47 also rigged the doors leading to the dormitories to explode whenever someone was foolish enough to open them.

The mine detonated perfectly and a sizeable gap was blown in what had been a door. It was not much later when HK-47 heard meatbags yelling and hurried footsteps. Then there were more explosions accompanied by the much more satisfying sounds of meatbags being reduced to meat. Soon after there followed cries of horror and panic from the remaining meatbags. The assassin droid took a moment to happily reflect over the past few moments and inwardly sighed with pleasure.

HK-47 passed through the blasted door and into a corridor with several doors and large windows placed between those doors. Through the windows on one side HK-47 could see a row of the abominable HK-50 droids lined up and his hatred began to well. On the other side were labs that HK-47 determined were for programming and engineering purposes. It all had to go. A few well placed grenades later the labs were in shambles and the HK-50 droids had been reduced to their base components.

HK-47 noticed another door at the end of corridor and made his way toward it. On the other side was what appeared to be an office. HK-47 heard more explosions but resisted the urge to look and see what feats his handiwork had accomplished. Instead he moved forward into the office and absorbed all of the information he could from the datapads, records, and the computer. HK-47 began sorting through the information.

It was obvious that this laboratory, Cytech Labs, was a developer of combat droids. That being the case, HK-47 was surprised the labs were not better defended–if a handful of inept security guards could be called a defense at all. The laboratory was of fairly recent construction and, so far as HK-47 could tell, the only products sold by the lab were the HK-50 droids, which were sold at extremely high prices, roughly a quarter of a million credits per droid. Only twenty-five transactions had been made and ten of those purchases had been made by Goto.

_Extrapolation: Evrain stated that he had destroyed four HK-50 droids and that T-3 had destroyed three. Therefore, Goto still controls three of my inferior brethren. They and the fat one will have to be dealt with._

The other fifteen transactionscited Soren Raghnall as the buyer. The name sounded dimly familiar but HK-47 failed to tie any significance to it and wished his memory banks would cooperate for once. Fortunately, there were a few details regarding the transaction with Soren Raghnall. Records indicated that Soren's order had been picked up by five different shuttles. There were no records or mentions as to where Soren Raghnall could be contacted nor where he or any of his organization might be located.

_Analysis: There is a possibility that Goto may know where to find Soren Raghnall, and more importantly, the abominations in his service. I must find Goto, or at least his records. There is probably an exchange outpost on a nearby world. But first I must finish cleaning up here._


	5. Daggers

_Daggers_

Visas didn't like cities. And while Bothawui's cities were not so densely packed as Nar Shaddaa, they were no exception. The pulse of life within any city was terribly disorienting. Visas failed to understand how the inhabitants of cities could stand such an oppressive environment as she walked along the crowded streets.

_Or am I missing something? Evrain seemed to find something aesthetic in cities. Did he see something I am blind to? _

Curious, Visas suppressed her misgivings and tried to feel the millions of people around her rather than wall them off. She visibly stumbled in the same instant. The vibrant pulse of life nearly overwhelmed Visas as she withdrew back into herself. _Perhaps that is something better experimented with in meditations._

Visas took a steadying breath and started forward again, aware that others in the throng were watching her. It was only a short walk to the spaceport and Visas felt the pulse quicken as she approached.

The bothan male who had sold Visas the shuttle told her it would be in bay twenty-three. The label was meaningless to Visas since she had no sight with which to read signs. The bothan had been hesitant to sell the shuttle to Visas since she was obviously blind.

Fortunately Visas had tools other than sight at her disposal. Every sentient, and most non-sentients, had a unique aura which permeated it and everything it touched, especially the things it owned. That being the case Visas merely had to isolate the trails of the bothan's aura and follow it. It was not as easy in the busy spaceport as it might have been in a more static area but was hardly difficult.

Visas stood in front of the security door to the bay, she was certain it was the correct one, the bothan's aura was all over it. Visas slid the keycard the bothan had given her through the keypad. Seconds later there was a click and the door slid open.

Visas honed her awareness on the shuttle and determined that it was in good condition, just as the bothan had said it was. The shuttle was an optimal configuration for a small number of long distance travelers. Visas began to walk toward the shuttle, then stopped.

_Something is wrong. _Visas opened her awareness and felt three other objects in the room. Objects with will, purpose, and malice.

Visas's twin lightsabers hissed to life as the hanger was lit up by volleys of blaster fire. Drawing on the force, Visas mustered the speed to turn and deflect the deadly energy bolts. The urgency of combat allowed Visas to better hone her focus and she became intimately aware of her attackers: three droids of a similar configuration to the HK-47 droid Evrain had restored. All three wielded repeating blaster rifles, and had been standing to the sides of the door, _obviously meaning to shoot me in the back_.

There was a brief pause in the laser volley during which Visas hurled both of her lightsabers at the two flanking droids. On leaving Visas' hands the weapons seemed to take on a power of their own as they flew unerringly into the chests of the assassin droids.

Now weaponless, Visas activated her stealth unit. The remaining HK-50 could still detect her with infrared sensors but those were not so accurate as visual sensors and most of the droid's frenzied shots missed wide.

The mirakula ran toward the remaining droid and used the force to pull her lightsabers back. The blades ignited as soon as the lightsaber hilts returned to her hands. Visas lunged forward and swung with one lightsaber while blocking the HK-50's last shots with the other. The energy blade cackled as it sliced the assassin droid in half. The motors in the HK-50's frame slowly wound down as the upper torso slid off and clattered noisily upon meeting the ground.

_What was this about?_ Visas wondered, deactivating her lightsabers and examining what was left of the droids. _I will find no answers here, that is for certain. But somebody sent these droids, and likely paid a great deal for their services. Am I being targeted in the same way Evrain was? He spoke of HK-50 droids hunting him._

Visas continued to ponder as she walked over to the shuttle. The remote sensor the bothan had given Visas worked and the ramp lowered automatically as she approached. As Visas sat down in the pilot's seat, another thought occurred to her, _will they be going after the others as well?_

Part of Visas was unconcerned for the others, in whose company she had been scorned. But a greater part did feel a share of responsibility for them.

_My pilgrimage will have to wait_, Visas decided

* * *

The Ebon Hawk was no where in particular, just in that vast emptiness between star systems. Both of the ship's occupants were in the aft section, where Atton was working on the Ebon Hawk's temperamental hyperdrive while Mira leaned against the heavy power conduits along the wall. 

"Maybe you should have tried to keep that astromech droid," Mira said.

"I'm willing to bet that can did this on purpose," Atton responded.

"Somebody's cranky," Mira said under her breath.

"I'm not cranky!" Atton vehemently declared, dropping his hydrospanner in the process and cursing soon thereafter.

"Okay," Mira replied indifferently, a tight grin spreading across her face as she walked back toward the cockpit and finally settled back into the copilot's seat._ While irritating Atton does have its appeal it's only a matter of time before he really snaps._

Then Mira heard a succession of grinding noises and the cackling of sparks from the engine room followed by a succession of curses, most of which Mira had not heard since leaving Nar Shaddaa. Mira failed to suppress her laughter. But her laughter ceased when the console started urgently beeping.

"Atton!" Mira called when the beeping persisted.

"What?" came the abrupt response. Mira didn't bother to explain since she could already hear Atton coming. "What?" Atton asked again once he was in the cockpit, then heard the beeping, "proximity alert? Out here?"

Atton hurried to take his seat but was cut short when a series of impacts rocked the Ebon Hawk, knocking Atton to the ground and nearly sending Mira out of her chair. The lights flickered then another series of blasts shook the vessel and the lights went out completely, even the console displays. Then Mira felt the awkward sensation of weightlessness and tried to anchor herself to the chair.

"What's going on?" Mira asked, her voice more than a little tremulous.

"Ion cannons," Atton groaned, "whoever was shooting at us wanted to disable the ship's power sources. Even the emergency generators are out."

Mira was no stranger to darkness, but she had never known darkness like she was overwhelmed with now. However much the stars might shine, they weren't lending any light to the interior of the Ebon Hawk.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Atton said, and it sounded like he was moving away, "whoever disabled this ship is going to be coming in."

The bounty hunter jumped when a deafening clang resounded throughout the Ebon Hawk and promptly lost her hold on the chair. In a panic, she tried to catch hold of it again but only drifted further away. She had always thought weightlessness would be something fun to experience, instead she felt ready to vomit.

_And I had to leave my equipment scattered around the dormitories! How am I going to find any of it with no light and no gravity? By now the equipment's not just scattered, it's floating!_

_Okay . . . come on . . . pull yourself together Mira. You didn't come this far just to be defeated by a little darkness and weightlessness._

Mira propelled herself forward. _Just like swimming._ Then she realized that there was no resistance to slow her down and flailed about before running headfirst into a wall. Anchoring herself with one hand, Mira used her free hand to feel the gash across her forehead. Realizing that treating weightlessness like being underwater wasn't such a good idea, Mira pulled herself along the nooks and crannies of the corridor at a more controlled pace.

Mira winced as a second clang reverberated throughout the ship but continued forward. The curving of the wall told the bounty hunter she had made it to the common area. _Just a little bit further._

A sharp grinding noise from above was the next unpleasant noise that encouraged Mira to move faster. But more disturbing was the silence once the grinding stopped, then Mira heard a soft hiss. _Gas._

Paralysis came almost instantaneously, beginning with the hands and feet and quickly working its way inward. Then the bounty hunter was blinded by a flash of light as a hole was bored through the ceiling of the common area. Mira dimly saw the silhouettes of several humanoid shapes descending through the hole as she passed out.


	6. The Right Tools

_The Right Tools_

"They don't look so dangerous in pieces, do they?" Mandalore asked, without expecting an answer, as he appraised the battered remnants of three black-plated assassin droids that lay on top of an examining table in the Mandalorian enclave's command building.

"They put too much confidence in their shuttle's stealth capabilities." Kelborn grated, "Our sensors detected it and I immediately dispatched an ambush party to the projected landing site. All three droids were destroyed before they could get off a shot."

"Good work Kelborn, I can see that placing you in charge during my absence was the right choice. Now tell me, do you know what they were looking for?"

"No, Mandalore, there was nothing in the ship's memory banks, not even a hyperspace jump record, and our efforts to salvage data from the droid's memory cortexes have also met failure. We are not even sure what model these droids are."

Mandalore didn't need to take a second look at the droid remains to realize they looked almost exactly like the HK-47 droid he had seen accompanying Revan and Evrain. But these droids appeared much newer than HK-47, their plating still retained a deep black finish where it wasn't scored by blaster fire while HK-47's plating had been battered and faded.

"I've seen a droid like these before," Mandalore said, "find out what you can about HK series droids. Have all three droids' heads put in a carrying case and transferred to my ship. I'll be going to Iziz once my ship is ready."

"I advise caution when you go to Onderon, Mandalore. Queen Talia has issued orders that any Mandalorian found on Onderon be arrested."

"Really?"

"Her men tried to arrest Kex when he was making a supply run. He killed four of them before he was captured. Then we killed another twenty or so when we broke him out. Last week she authorized her soldiers to use deadly force on us."

"So that's how she's decided to repay us for securing her throne for her. Has she attempted to locate our enclave?"

"Not yet. I've already taken the precaution of making sure that every ship we send to Onderon is equipped with stealth devices, fluctuating transponder codes, and that the Mandalorians flying them are disguised. Fortunately, no one down there has seen our faces."

"You've done well Kelborn, now I have one more instruction. Order Bralor to meet me at my ship when it's ready, and tell him to wear plain clothes."

* * *

Kiph half-jumped out of his seat when he heard a loud creak outside his door and fumbled to grab his blaster pistol before pointing it at the door with shaky hands. After a few tense moments, the Twi'lek scrutinized the camera and motion sensor feeds on the computer display. He saw nothing on the cameras and only background vibrations on the motion sensors. 

_Vermin, just vermin, _Kiph decided,_ they crawl all over this place, along the floors and in the walls. _

The building Kiph was hiding in was abandoned and on the brink of collapse; even the squatters had abandoned it. Other than the fugitive slicer the building's only other denizens were insects and rats.

Kiph was nervous, and had been ever since eluding capture by Queen Talia's soldiers after the chaos following the mess at the Royal Palace. Talia's people had been quick to liquidate his credit account, but a slicer understands the necessity of redundancies. Kiph had enough credits stashed away–and enough intelligence–to consistently stay a step ahead of Onderonian security.

The Twi'lek stood up from his desk and peeked out of the small room's only window. Beast-Rider thugs stalked the street around the building he had chosen, and Onderonian security hadn't extended their search to this area because of them. Kiph backed away from the window and, after setting his blaster pistol down, grabbed his container of stimulant pills from inside the computer desk and swallowed three of them, then turned back to the computer console.

Kiph dropped the container of stim pills when a series of loud blaster shots demanded his attention as the small room's only door splintered and then disintegrated into wooden splinters. The slicer looked frantically for his blaster pistol before he felt a sharp impact on his forehead.

When Kiph regained his bearings he found himself on his back staring up at two large men that were looming over him. The men wore the baggy clothes representative of most Onderonians but Kiph was certain they were not Onderonian. One of them had a shaved head and held two heavy blaster pistols while the other had thick gray hair and carried a small blaster carbine. Both men's weapons were of Mandalorian manufacture, which Kiph recognized because he had helped smuggle Mandalorian arms before.

"So you didn't hit him too hard after all, did you Bralor?" asked the man with the carbine. Kiph thought his voice sounded familiar.

"He'll be fine," replied the man with the blaster pistols.

"_Who are you?"_ Kiph asked groggily, and started to stand. He didn't make it far before the man with the assault rifle stopped him from rising with a boot heel to his sternum.

"What did he say?" asked the one with the pistols.

"He asked who we were."

Kiph took a long look at the man with the assault rifle, then recognized his posture and voice, _"Mandalore,"_ the man looked at Kiph with an expression that told the Twi'lek he had guessed right. Kiph continued: _"You can't be here for the bounty, that would be beneath you. What do you want?"_

"You're going to extract information from a droid's head for us."

"_Am I going to get paid for this?"_ Kiph asked.

"Your payment will be getting off this planet."

"_Considering my circumstances, I'm willing to accept that commission."_

"Good, we need to get moving."

"_Give me a moment to get my tools–"_

"Now," Mandalore grated.

* * *

"How did they find out you were here?" Mandalore asked, waving a hand in the direction of the Onderonian military blockade. 

"_I took every precuation!" _Kiph protested, _"maybe they tracked you and your friend here."_

Mandalore shot an angry glare at Kiph then looked back at the blockade. Nearly two dozen soldiers armed with blaster rifles covered the entire breadth of the street. The officer in command was only letting citizens pass one at a time. Mandalore looked at the dead end of the alley, whose entrance he stood at, and muttered a curse, then turned around when he heard Bralor approaching.

"How is the other end of the street?"

"It's blocked as well. Mandalore, these Onderonians are soft, we can easily blast our way through them, even without our armor."

"We can't blow our cover just yet or they'll shut down the space port before we can even get near."

"_Look!" _Kiph said.

Mandalore turned in the direction the Twi'lek was pointing and saw a crowd of Beast-Rider thugs, armed with a mix of blades and blasters, approaching the blockade.

"Well, this problem just may solve itself," Mandalore said.

"Halt! Lower your weapons and don't come any further!" shouted the Onderonian officer.

"Or what?" retorted the man who stood at the head of the Beast-Rider gang, brandishing a blaster pistol, "you're outnumbered."

"Men, take aim! I'm warning you–"

A laser bolt from the Beast-Rider leader's blaster pistol cut the officer's warning short and the Onderonians and Beast Riders peremptorily opened fire on each other. Onderonian blaster fire decimated the first line of Beast-Riders before the bulk of the Beast-Rider mob crashed into the Onderonian blockade and the fight turned from one of blasters to one of vibroblades. The Beast-Riders were soon celebrating their victory.

"That was pathetic," Bralor said, "like watching children fight."

The Beast-Riders didn't have long before the Onderonian military forces who had been blockading the other side of the street came over to avenge their fallen comrades. Many of the Beast-Riders fell against the Onderonian reinforcements but the remaining Beast-Riders took advantage of what cover they could find, often turning over street vendor stands, and returned fire.

"We'll take advantage of the chaos while it lasts," Mandalore said, and retrieved a metallic armband from the folds of his robes, then handed it to Kiph. "Strap this on to your arm and hit the green button."

"_I know how to use a personal shield,"_ Kiph said, and did just what Mandalore had told him to do.

"I trust you also know how to keep your head down," Mandalore didn't wait for Kiph to respond, "Bralor, lead the way."

The blaster fight between the Onderonian military forces and the Beast-Riders had hit a stalemate, with neither side yielding. Bralor activated his personal shield and drew a blaster, then darted out from the cover of the alley and ran down the length of the street in a half-crouch with Kiph and Mandalore following shortly behind.

Mandalore nearly ran into Kiph when the Twi'lek stumbled over the body of a civilian who had been killed in the crossfire. Kiph stopped to stare at the open-eyed corpse.

"Keep moving dammit!" Mandalore shouted. Mandalore heard the whine of a blaster bolt glancing off his shield then pulled his carbine free and riddled the Beast-Rider who had fired on him. Mandalore turned back to Kiph to see him cowering with his hands over his head and promptly shoved the Twi'lek. "I said move!"

Mandalore heard blaster fire directly ahead and saw Bralor dispatch a Beast-Rider. Kiph got back on his feet and the three proceeded haphazardly across what had become a battle zone.

Mandalore took a brief look backwards and saw the Onderonians forming a line. _They're going to try and storm the Beast-Riders._ "Take cover!" he shouted. The three took cover under an arch in front of a door and Mandalore leaned out to watch as the line of Onderonians unleashed a volley of suppressing fire and charged forward. Then he heard the nearly-deafening fire of a heavy repeater and watched its bolts issue from a second story window to decimate the Onderonian advance. There was a temporary halt to the blaster fire.

"It's safe for now," Mandalore said, "Kiph, don't stop again or I'm going to knock you out and carry you the rest of the way."

"In this situation, I would consider that to be a favor," the Twi'lek responded.

"Good, it just may come to that."

The blaster fire started up again, but without the same intensity it had before. _Whoever fired that repeater is probably relocating_, Mandalore thought as he led Kiph and Bralor out from the door threshold's cover, and through the first alley that led to another street.

The three continued to cut through alleys on the way to the spaceport, spending as little time on the streets as possible, and avoiding the numerous Onderonian patrols. At length they stepped out of the last alley and into the merchant quarter. The plaza was largely empty.

"Is it usual for the merchant quarter to be this quiet?" Bralor asked.

"_I haven't gotten out much for the past few weeks,"_ Kiph said, _"Was it busy earlier today?"_

"Not significantly," Mandalore replied, looking over the inactivity, "but it was certainly busier than this."

"Maybe the people heard about the scuffle with the Beast-Riders," Bralor suggested.

"There's only a handful of guards at the spaceport gates," Mandalore said.

"_They'll be watching for me,"_ Kiph cautioned.

"We're aware of that," Mandalore said.

"It doesn't look like the security turrets are back online," Bralor observed.

"_What about the tower guns?"_ Kiph asked.

"We'll be well into the atmosphere before they even know to be looking for us," said Mandalore.

"_You'll only have two minutes before they lock down the spaceport hangers,"_ said Kiph.

"That will be more than enough time. Bralor, take out the two guards on the left, I'll take care of the other three. Kiph, stay here and catch up when the last guard falls."

"This will be too easy Mandalore," Bralor laughed as he activated his personal shield and adjusted his pistols within the folds of his robes for easier access.

"We'll close to fifteen meters and fire," Mandalore said, activating his own shield.

"I'll need to see your passes," said one of the guards as the Mandalorians approached; that guard didn't have enough time to react by the time he saw Bralor's blaster pistol, and the guard beside him had only started to raise his blaster rifle when a laser bolt from Bralor's other blaster struck his chest. The other three guards, who stood by the gate itself, were riddled by Mandalore's carbine before they could turn around.

When the bodies fell and didn't stir, Mandalore and Bralor turned around to see Kiph staring at the carcasses; the Twi'lek looked greener than usual.


	7. Aggressive Action

_Aggressive Action_

"These accommodations are rather sparse," Bao-Dur commented, "but efficient." The Iridonian sat in a chair in the training room of the Secret Academy, whose walls were unadorned white

"Atris didn't believe in ornamentation," Briana said, still standing.

"It shows." Bao-Dur's lips twisted up slightly, a gesture he used to imply he was trying to be humorous. Briana didn't make any indication she had noticed.

"How are your restoration efforts coming?" she asked Bao-Dur.

Bao-Dur sighed, "I've been trying to get back into contact with the Ithorians so we can resume our work on the project but Citadel Station was badly damaged during the last Sith attack and, until Citadel's infrastructure is repaired, I'll have a hard time procuring the resources I need in order to continue my efforts. That's why I've spent most of the past five days helping to repair the station."

"Atris felt that you were the key to restoring this planet."

"Well, I have spent a great deal of time–"

"I think it was more than that," Briana interrupted, "I believe she thought that your understanding was critical to healing this planet."

"That sounds like something of an exaggeration . . ." Bao-Dur's voice trailed off.

"I think she was right. While we traveled together I noticed that you have an extraordinary talent with machines, a kind of understanding that goes beyond _knowing_. I believe you possess the same affinity of understanding with the planet, and that is what Atris saw."

"Affinity," Bao-Dur mulled over the word for a moment before realizing what Briana was trying to get at, "are you suggesting I'm force-sensitive?"

"Maybe," Briana said, sitting down, "did Evrain ever say anything about it to you?"

"No," Bao-Dur replied, "I don't think so."

"He rarely said anything directly. He didn't offer to train me until I had asked for it. Perhaps he wanted the desire to learn to come from us."

"Then maybe that is why he didn't say anything. Evrain understood how . . . uncomfortable I was with the force."

"What?"

Bao-Dur chuckled, "I am afraid of the force. And, from what I have heard, fear is the first step down the dark path. Perhaps it was wise of Evrain to not teach me." There was a moment of silence after that; then Bao-Dur spoke again, "It was surprising that he left when he did."

Briana paused for a moment, opened her mouth as if she were about to speak then closed it again. Finally she asked "Would you mind giving me a hand in accessing data from the holocrons? Atris had a wealth of them that I haven't been able to access."

"Sure," Bao-Dur said, standing up, "lead the way." _She was quick to change the conversation, _Bao-Dur observed_, she must still feel abandoned._

Briana led Bao-Dur down the silent corridors of the academy.

"Stop," Bao-Dur said abruptly.

"What?" Briana asked, confused, "we aren't there yet."

"Do not move, there is a mine on the floor."

"Where?"

"Be still." Bao-Dur slowly walked across the floor, focusing intensely. Then Briana saw it; a white cylinder, no more than two centimeters high, set against the wall. Bao-Dur looked at the opposite wall and Briana followed his gaze to an identical cylinder set against that wall.

"They're trip mines," Bao-Dur said as he pulled a tool from his belt, "step back a few feet. A simple ion projector will disable the mechanisms."

"Whoever planted these mines is probably still here," Briana said, agitated.

"Do you have your lightsaber with you?" Bao-Dur asked.

"It's on the other side of those trip mines, in my quarters." Bao-Dur shrugged and got back to disabling the mines.

"I suppose you didn't bring a blaster?" Briana asked. Bao-Dur shook his head.

_It's a good thing we're both trained to fight with our hands, _Briana thought, glancing at Bao-Dur's shield breaker arm.

"It's safe now," Bao-Dur said, "well, at least the mine isn't a threat anymore. So what are we going to do?"

"We'll go to my quarters to get my lightsaber, then we'll go to the security room and access the cameras."

"That sounds like a plan," Bao Dur said.

After passing through a short corridor the two emerged into the nexus of corridors at the center of the academy.

"I don't see any mines," the Iridonian whispered.

Briana nodded, edging along the wall and looking for any adversaries. Then she darted back reflexively before a volley of blaster fire from across the room could strike her. After motioning Bao-Dur to circle around the other side, Briana scrurried across the floor to take cover behind the large column at the center of the room.

The Handmaiden heard the metallic clicks of a droid's footsteps and steeled herself. When she saw a black-plated droid Briana unleashed a pulse of telekinetic energy, hurling the droid against the far wall and smashing it in the process. At first Briana thought the droid was HK-47, but then recognized its model as that of the assassin droids that had shot down Evrain's shuttle.

Briana hurriedly grabbed the HK droid's blaster rifle and continued moving around the column. The other two droids were soon in sight and Briana took cover in a door alcove when they opened fire. As soon as there was a pause in the volley Briana peaked out and fired a quick burst at the nearest assassin droid. The first shot missed but the second struck the assassin droid's chest while the third hit it's head. All of the shots in the second burst hit the HK droid's torso and it collapsed, its motors whining as they failed. Bao-Dur came around the column and struck the final droid's head with his shield-breaker arm but was blown onto his back when the droid's torso exploded.

Dropping her blaster, Briana hurried to Bao-Dur's side. The Iridonian groaned, burns covered his face and arms while shrapnel had left cuts on his exposed skin.

"Hold on," Briana said, "I'll get a medpac." As Briana stood a grenade fell between her and Bao-Dur, the Handmaiden only had time to glance before it exploded. Everything turned blindingly white while a piercing whine resounded in her ears. Briana staggered a few steps before falling to her knees, and then lost all sensation in her limbs as a beam of numbing energy struck her.

* * *

"We're coming out of hyperspace now," announced the _Sojourn's_ helmsman.

Admiral Onasi held his breath as the hyperspace conduit resolved into a field of stars and the planet Ralltiir. Lances of green and red turbolaser fire danced across the sky, high over the planet's surface.

"Sensor report," said Carth.

"Reading a dozen Sith battle cruisers and seven republic cruisers. The battle seems to be concentrated over Ralltiir's largest continent."

"Get us there, I want every fighter and bomber squadron deployed before we reach the combat zone. Pull us alongside the nearest Sith vessel so we can use our broadside guns."

The _Sojourn _maneuvered amongst the debris of civilian transports and freighters, planetary defense craft and a destroyed Republic cruiser as it made its way toward the chaos taking place over Ralltiir's largest continent. Sith fighters and gunships were quick to make certain the _Sojourn_ understood that it was not welcome, but the Republic cruiser's turbolaser batteries cut a swath through the small vessels while her fighters took care of any Sith that evaded the _Sojourn's _guns.

Republic and Sith warships over Ralltiir were engaging each other at point-blank range. Fighters continued to buzz around the _Sojourn_ as it closed with a Sith battle cruiser. The Sith warship took advantage of its greater range of fire and pummeled the _Sojourn_ with turbolaser fire as it made its approach. When the _Sojourn_ pulled alongside the Sith warship it unleashed a hail of fire from it's numerous broadside cannons and the Sith responded with an even more intense barrage.

"Sith shields are holding," the sensor officer shouted.

"Reinforce the starboard shields and channel power from all nonessential systems to the broadside batteries," said Carth, "order our bombers to concentrate on disabling their shields."

Carth watched out the viewing windows of the bridge as a renewed fusillade of turbolaser fire struck the Sith warship, which answered in kind. Then the bombers began their run, escorted by a vanguard of fighters. Sith defensive turrets opened fire and destroyed most of the fighter escorts but enough of the bombers delivered their payloads to crush the Sith warship's port side shield generator.

The Sith attempted to compensate but the Sojourn's guns ripped through the enemy warship's hull with impunity. Explosions began to rip apart the hull of the ship until the engines erupted in a blinding fireball.

The bridge crew cheered as the light faded to reveal that the entire aft section of the Sith warship's broken hull had shattered while the rest was only a drifting derelict. Carth allowed himself a smile, _Only eleven left_.

Then Carth saw a Sith battle cruiser facing the _Sojourn_ in time to watch it fire a fusillade of turbolaser fire with all of its batteries.

"Helm, evasive action," Commander Ambar shouted, who had been silent until now.

The helmsman anticipated her order and, by diving the _Sojourn_ under the debris of the destroyed Sith warship, evaded the worst of the volley while emerging underneath the Sith warship that had just fired on them. By twisting the _Sojourn _on it's side the helmsman allowed the broadside batteries to fire on the Sith warship's vulnerable underbelly, causing a great deal of damage. But the twists the helmsman had taken the _Sojourn_ through had brought Carth's stomach along as well; the admiral felt a sudden need to sit down.

"Sith warship withdrawing," voiced the tactical officer.

"Receiving a distress signal from Republic Cruiser _Jenraux_, they're under heavy fire," said another officer.

"We can finish that warship later," said Carth, "defend the _Jenraux_."

The Sojourn continued underneath the retreating Sith warship and the two vessels exchanged turbolaser fire as they passed each other by. The _Jenraux_ was dead in space, being mercilessly pummeled by a Sith warship as fighters and bombers buzzed around it. Carth could tell it wouldn't be able to take many more hits.

"Order our interceptors to destroy the bombers attacking the _Jenraux_," said Carth, "and bring us between the _Jenraux_ and that Sith warship. Give me the Sith warship's status."

"Their shields are at forty percent, many of their turbolaser batteries are damaged," the sensor officer responded.

"All bombers are to concentrate on their shields, two fighter wings are to escort the bombers."

The _Sojourn_ quickly came between the Sith and _Jenraux _and easily soaked up the turbolaser fire that may have destroyed the _Jenraux._ The _Sojourn_ had only begun to exchange fire with the Sith warship when the Sith suddenly stopped firing.

"What are they doing?" Commander Ambar asked.

"They must have diverted power from their turbolasers to their shields. Their shield strength jumped from forty percent to seventy percent," the sensor officer replied.

"Whatever they're doing I don't like it," said Carth.

"Could they be surrendering?" asked Ambar.

"No, this is some kind of trick. Surrender isn't in the Sith's vocabulary, only treachery. Increase power to turbolasers, keep firing."

The Sith warship continued to take the punishment as the Sojourn and it's bombers attacked the Sith as relentlessly as they had been attacking the Jenraux. Then nearly a dozen craft flew from the Sith hanger.

"What are those?" asked Carth.

"Heavy transports," the sensor officer replied.

_They're trying to board us_, Carth realized. "Order all batteries to fire on those transports. Have our soldiers secure the hanger and all docking umbilicals."

"Admiral, the Sith warship is withdrawing," said Commander Ambar.

"They must be using the transports to cover their escape." Carth examined the tactical officer's console, ascertaining which Republic ship had the best chance of intercepting the wounded Sith warship. "Advise the _Almas_ that a damaged Sith warship is within their range. They are to engage at their discretion. I still want all batteries on those transports."

The _Sojourn _unleashed its turbolasers on the transports, but the craft were heavily shielded. Carth watched the tactical display as the first wave of transports drew perilously close. Two of them managed to get inside the range of the _Sojourn's_ guns.

"Should we order the fighters to destroy them?" asked the commander.

"No," said Carth, "they're too close, the fighters may do more harm to our ship than to the transports. What docking umbilicals are these transports heading to and what are their ETAs?"

"Deck six forward, and deck 3 mid in roughly three minutes," the sensor officer responded.

"Alert the soldiers on those decks and initiate lockdown sequences in two minutes. Commander Ambar, I'm going to reinforce deck six, you have the conn."

* * *

The deck six docking umbilical was almost directly above the bridge and the bulkhead doors were closing just as Carth arrived. _Hopefully, closing the bulkheads will prove to be an unnecessary precaution, _thought the admiral. A dozen republic troopers were setting up barricades a distance away from the umbilical door.

"Admiral Onasi." Carth turned to see Lietenant Gatara.

"Report, lieutenant."

"Yes sir, I have a dozen men setting up barricades with boxes from the adjacent storage room as well as a medium repeater, and I've placed a concussion mine near the umbilical door. If Captain Ambar's announcement was correct," the lieutenant checked his chronometer, "we have roughly forty-five seconds before the Sith transport is able to dock."

"Carry on then," said Carth, "and make sure that repeater is ready."

"Aye sir."

Carth pulled his blasters from their holsters, the first was the same weapon he had wielded since the Mandalorian wars, the other was the blaster Revan had given him after her duel with Bendak Starkiller on Taris, although she had called herself Seanna at the time. _Which was too long ago for me to be worrying about it now, _Carth decided.

There was a loud clang of metal on metal, the Sith transport had docked. Carth took cover with the other soldiers behind the barricade of metal boxes. Each man had his sights fixed on the door. Moments later there was an explosion and the door flew off its frame, blaster fire immediately erupted from inside the door and the Republic troopers answered in kind. The repeater fired off a near-constant stream of blaster fire through the door, suppressing any Sith attempts to break through.

Finally the repeater had to stop its barrage, or else risk overheating its power coils. The Sith charged out of the shuttle and triggered Gatara's concussion mine. Stunned and dazed, they were easy targets for the Republic troopers. Then three grenades were thrown from the doorway.

Carth ducked as the grenades exploded in blinding flashes of light. By the time Carth looked up a number of vibroblade-wielding Sith were charging the barricade. Carth fired several shots into the charging Sith, bringing down several of them. The soldier manning the repeater had barely recovered when a Sith leapt on top of the barricade and neatly sliced his neck open. Most of the Republic soldiers did recover in time, and dropped their blaster rifles in order to draw their own vibroblades.

Vibrosword raised high, a Sith warrior lunged at Carth but the admiral caught the warrior in the chest with three blaster shots and the Sith's lunge was cut short. Seeing a Republic soldier about to be run through, Carth snapped off a quick shot that struck the offending Sith in the back of his head. A Republic soldier with his back against the bulkhead managed to take down several Sith troopers with his blaster rifle. Carth turned in time to see a Sith with a double-bladed vibrosword. The Sith attacked with a whirlwind of strikes that seemed like one continuous motion which Carth barely managed to avoid. Although he didn't have the chance to aim, Carth fired off a blaster shot, not certain where it would land. The blaster bolt struck the warrior's leg and, while the Sith was stunned for a moment, Carth fired off a rapid series of shots, bringing down the Sith warrior.

Carth looked back to the doorway to see another wave of Sith emerging. Then the repeater opened fire and leveled the charging Sith with a generous number of blaster bolts. Once the repeater stopped, everything grew silent. Carth turned to see who had manned the repeater. That soldier had let go of the weapon's trigger and was now cradling his wounded arm.

"What's your name, soldier?" Carth asked.

"Sergeant Koralo sir," the trooper replied.

"I'll remember what you've done, soldier," said Carth.

Carth looked at the remaining Republic soldiers, only four of them remained standing, if Koralo hadn't gotten to the repeater in time, the fight would have been over.

Carth activated his wrist-comm, "Bridge, deck six umbilical is secure. Report on ship's integrity."

"_Deck two aft has repelled a transport," _responded Commander Ambar, _"the umbilical on deck three mid was overrun. The Sith have been using mines to breach our bulkheads. I've sent additional security teams but they have not been successful."_

"Do you know where they're headed?"

"_Their intended destination appears to be deck four aft."_

"Sithspit, That's where the magazine is! Send two squads to defend the magazine and a medical team to my location, there are wounded here."

"_I'm canceling the lockdown on deck six now, sir," the commander responded._

The bulkhead door opened and Carth turned back to the soldiers, "If any of you are uninjured, get your weapons and come with me."

* * *

After charging down the main corridor of deck six, Carth and the three soldiers following him climbed two decks down the elevator shaft, since the elevators had been taken offline. Carth opened the manual access panel beside the elevator doors to deck four and moments later the doors slid open. The admiral was relieved to have his feet on solid ground again.

"Commander, open aft elevator bulkhead on deck four."

"_Yes admiral, our intraship sensors are reporting intense blaster fire by the magazine, you'd better hurry."_

The bulkhead door opened to reveal a pile of Sith and Republic corpses. Clearly, the fight had already moved past this area. Carth ran past the bodies and around the bend in the corridor, then turned back as a pair of repeating blasters opened fire, but not before he had caught a glimpse of what was happening.

"The Sith are about to breach the magazine door," Carth said to his men, "if they get in there they can detonate the warheads and split this ship in two. Judging from the bodies, there can't be many of them left. Do any of you have grenades?"

"Yes, sir," said one of the soldiers, producing a concussion grenade.

"Lob it down that corridor, as far as you can throw it," Carth faced another soldier carrying a blaster carbine, "provide suppressing fire once the grenade goes off," he ordered.

The first soldier removed the priming pin from the grenade then quickly turned the corner and threw it, barely making it back to cover before a hail of blaster fire could hit her. Seconds later the grenade exploded and the other soldier Carth had spoken to stepped around the bend and fired a volley of shots then motioned the others to advance while holding his position.

Carth led the soldiers as he ran down the corridor. The admiral couldn't help but notice the bodies of Sith troopers littering the corridor, who had likely been shot down during a similar charge.

Then three Sith troopers rose above the barricade and opened fire with their blaster rifles. Lacking any cover in the open corridor, Carth dove into a prone position along with one of the other soldiers, the one who had remained standing fell under Sith blaster fire. Then the same soldier who had provided suppressing fire before fired off another volley, striking one of the Sith in the chest and forcing the other two to duck.

The prone soldier behind Carth leapt to her feet and charged the barricade, then fired down on the two Sith hiding behind it. Carth, who was older than the enthusiastic soldier, took a moment longer to stand up. When he reached the barricade he saw that the door to the magazine had already been breached.

"Dammit," Carth muttered, then read the name tag of the woman who had charged the Sith, "Corporal Sanoh, we need to stop whoever's in there. We can't use our blasters in there though, the equipment is too reactive."

Carth holstered his pistols and turned to face the other soldier, "Make sure no Sith gets out this door," he ordered. When Carth had turned back Corporal Sanoh had already doffed her blaster rifle in favor of a vibroblade taken from a Sith warrior who lay on the ground. Carth followed her example and stepped into the magazine.

* * *

The lights in the magazine were dim. Pulsating red emergency lights were the only illumination. The magazine was three stories high but only accessible from deck four, it contained the _Sojourn's _torpedos and bombs, used by fighters and bombers, along with heavier payloads that could only be delivered by the _Sojourn _itself. These ordinances were stored in vertical racks encased in duracrete tubes where they could be transported to the hanger bays, in the cases of fighter and bomber munitions, or to the missile tubes for heavy ordinance, via a series of conduits running throughout the ship.

This setup made the magazine a maze of conduits and duracrete ordinance tubes. Carth and Corporal Sanoh carefully made their way among the tubes, knowing that at least one Sith was in there. Then Carth saw an open ordinance tube, revealing a rack of plasma bombs. Carth hurried to the munitions rack, then saw a mine fixed to one of the bombs and stopped short.

Corporal Sanoh stepped up beside Carth and examined the mine, then stepped closer. "It hasn't been armed yet," the corporal said calmly.

"Then–" Carth didn't have time to finish his thought before he was violently seized and hurled against an ordinance tube.

Corporal Sanoh could only watch as the invisible force propelled her admiral against the hard duracrete surface, then she saw a hooded and masked man clad in grey robes holding a vibrosword standing where Admiral Onasi had been only a moment ago. Sanoh had raised her own vibroblade in a defensive stance when the Sith extended his hand. Then an intense bolt of lightning arced from the man's hand and struck an ordinance tube when Sanoh dodged out of the way, taking cover behind another tube.

The Sith's steps echoed off the metal floor as he walked forward. Sanoh side-stepped around the tube, trying to stay opposite of the vibrosword-wielding Sith. _I only have to keep away from him until backup arrives. But, they might be occupied on other parts of the ship. Maybe more Sith transports got through._

A shrill cry suddenly cut the air and the Sith lunged around the tube, vibrosword descending. Sanoh barely parried the Sith's attack and was unprepared when her opponent punched her in the face with his free hand. Reeling, Sanoh only just warded off the next strike. While she was still recovering, the corporal suddenly felt as if a leaden weight had been slammed into her chest and was thrown backwards.

Gasping for breath, the soldier defiantly stood as the Sith came for another attack But this time Sanoh didn't have the strength for another parry and lost her grip on her vibroblade to the Sith warrior's powerful swing. The Sith grabbed Sanoh by the neck and pressed her against the ordinance tube behind her.

"You have spirit for one who still serves the Republic. As such, I find you worthy to blood my blade." The Sith warrior was drawing back his vibrosword for the _coup de grace_ when a blaster bolt struck him on the side of his head. The warrior's eyes suddenly went dead and his grip on Sanoh's neck slackened. The Republic soldier pushed the Sith away and he collapsed onto his back, vibrosword falling from his hand and clattering as it struck the ground.

Sanoh turned to see the admiral sitting on the floor, leaning on the same tube he had been hurled against. The admiral was bleeding from the forehead where it had struck the duracrete tube.

"What kind of Sith was that?" Sanoh asked as she walked over to help the admiral.

"I don't know," Admiral Onasi responded, "he was trained in the force, and was no initiate. But he used a vibrosword. I'll have to look into it whenever I get the chance."

"The magazine is secure," Carth said into his wrist-comm, "bring me up to speed."

"_The ship is secure as well, admiral. Commodore Vespera's battle group has arrived and the Sith have withdrawn for the moment."_

"The moment?"

"_Aye sir, they've relocated to the far side of the moon._"

"What about the _Jenraux_?"

"_The Jenraux is safe, and the Almas successfully intercepted the retreating Sith warship."_

"Good," said Carth, "inform all ship captains that I will be holding a holo-conference in fifteen minutes."


End file.
